When the other staff member finally arrived, Josh and Zoe were escorted out of the room by Mr. Westin after Evan and Freddy exited the room. They first stopped at Zoe’s room and Josh and Mr. Westin stood outside as Zoe grabbed a couple of sets of clothing, snacks, a pillow, a light blanket, and her towel and toiletries. She hadn’t brought much, to begin with, so it was almost as if she had packed everything all back up, minus the stuff that was already there in her room when she arrived and the messy piles of dirty clothes on the floor. Zoe felt as though she didn’t have forever to grab all her stuff, so she did it quickly, but before she left with her left hand on the light switch, right on the doorknob she surveyed the room and inhaled deeply attempting to control her anxiety, exhaling she opened the door. Mr. Westin and Josh were right where she had left them just beside the doorknob. They made eye contact that asked whether she had gotten everything she needed and she replied, “I have everything, we can go now.”
Zoe was surprised that no one else was in the hallway. She guessed that people were being moved only when it was safe to do so. As they crossed over to the vampires’ side of the dorm still on the women’s floor, Zoe noticed that it was quiet. Which was very eerie, knowing how loud Lily’s room was when the girls gathered to choose clothes together. But quiet was most definitely a good thing. Of course, Zoe couldn’t help but wonder if the humans were just going to go through their normal routine ignoring their vampire roommate? Mr. Westin led the way up the stairs followed by Zoe, then Josh holding up the caboose. Like the rooms below them, these were also quiet. Zoe then began to wonder if the teachers or staff explained the situation or left it alone.
When they had finally came upon Josh’s room. Mr. Westin stood outside of the door frame, while Josh walked in. Zoe looked at Mr. Westin, who looked right back at her motioning for her to go into the room. As she walked in, he told her, “The door shall remain closed, except when receiving food and restroom breaks. It locks from the inside, you can keep it locked, but we will have staff stationed on each floor to secure any trips outside of the room. Just don’t abuse your restroom time.”
“Okay,” Zoe replied, feeling like she had to say something to acknowledge his statement.
The door closed behind her and she locked it instinctively. Then she turned to Josh looking for an explanation, who was sitting on his bed, beginning to take off his shoes.
“So, what’s up with the other vampires?” Zoe asked, getting straight to the point.
“It’s something that happens. It’s like getting depressed because you can’t eat any of your favorite foods,” Josh explained.
“Well, why are you okay?” Zoe asked.
“I just haven’t found my favorite food,” he replied.
“This is because you get random blood to eat?” She asked.
“Yeah, it is because of that, and the fact that the vampires want the blood the humans have here but are constantly denying it for themselves,” he replied.
“Next, question, where am I supposed to change and where will I sleep?” Zoe asked desperately trying to control the flush creeping into her cheeks and ears.
“Well, there’s room in the closet if you want to change there, or I could go in there and you change out here. And as for sleeping I don’t know, I don’t really want to sleep on the floor but there are enough pillows to make a barrier, so we can share the same bed,” Josh tried to reason out not knowing how Zoe would take it.
Zoe figured that sharing the bed was probably going to happen. At least it was large enough for the two of them to comfortably fit with space between them. But the thought of sleeping in his bed made her gulp. A couple of seconds went by and Zoe took off her shoes, set her bag down, and rummaged for water. She looked at Josh who was looking at her.
“Um, what do you want to do till dinner?” She asked, trying to ease the tension in the room. She still felt the distance that the vampires had with them, which was purposely learned so that they wouldn’t scare the humans.
“We could watch another movie or talk,” Josh said.
“I guess we could watch a movie, but I can’t watch movies all night. I’ll get a headache,” Zoe replied.
“Okay, we’ll just watch one movie and then go from there. What do you want to watch?”
“Whatever you want to watch is fine, probably not a horror movie, because you know I’ll scream,” Zoe reminded him.
“Yeah, I’ll just put something on. You can sit wherever you want.”
“Okay.”
Zoe looked around and the only place to sit was the giant bean bag. She sat on it and dragged her bag towards her. She opened it and gathered her nightclothes and sectioned them off to a side of the bag. Then she picked her clothes for tomorrow and folded those up and placed them on top of everything else to the other side, she made sure to hide her undergarments in them. And then she pulled out her bag with makeup wipes, toothbrush, and toothpaste so she didn’t waste any time that she had to use the restroom before bed. When Josh was finished putting the disk he had chosen into the player, he saw Zoe arranging things in her bag and pulling out her toiletry bag. He laughed, thinking she was worrying too much about the situation.
“What?” Zoe asked Josh.
“You don’t have to get all prepared to use the restroom.”
“You do know that I’m the only girl up here on this floor, right?”
“Yeah, but you’ll be fine, I’m sure anytime you leave no one else will be out there, the staff will make sure of it.”
“I hope so, but what if you have to come with me?”
“I’ll just stand outside the door to the restroom.”
“Okay.”
Zoe’s face finally fully flushed embarrassed that she was freaking out about the whole situation. She tried to relax by focusing on the movie. It was an action movie she had seen before, but she couldn’t quite get into the movie, because Josh was wandering around his room behind the bean bag.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m packing my stuff,” Josh replied.
“Why?”
“Well Mr. Westing didn’t want to say anything, but we are going to be moved into a bigger room with two separate beds on the higher floors of the mansion. Those rooms are much safer than the rooms on this floor and your floor. Now that they are sure the vampire-human pairs are safe; they’re going to put us together for the rest of our time here.”
“Oh … And I am going to be stuck with you!?” Zoe exclaimed with a shocked look on her face.
“Yeah, if you want to stay here and get whatever you came here for, you’ll have to.”
Zoe, who thought this arrangement was temporary, didn’t know what to think. While she was talking to Josh, she had turned her abdomen to the bean bag couch leaning on it to watch him and now upon hearing the news she slowly turned around back to the bean bag couch sliding into a doubled-over head resting on her knees position. Zoe had never been in a relationship with a guy before. Anyone she had ever liked never took an interest in her and she of course grew up with her sister. She didn’t know how to act with a boy in any capacity. The worst being her period. Which she was most definitely going to have towards the end of the month. And she was extremely worried about how that was going to go with vampires, in class, but now she was going to have to deal with one in her, their, room while it happens. This was an absolute nightmare.
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